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In the yahd, not too
fah from the cah
Picture of ryan81986
posted
I've got 2 in my kitchen that I have no idea what they do. One is in it's own box on one side of the sink, the other is in a 2 gang box with a switch that controls a light above the sink. There is no box under the sink for a disposal, none of the outlets top or bottom are switched, and there is nothing in the attic for an outside light.

I'm stumped.




 
Posts: 6337 | Location: Just outside of Boston | Registered: March 28, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Shall Not Be Infringed
Picture of nhracecraft
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How old is the house? Got power at the switch(s) in question?


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Posts: 8785 | Location: New Hampshire | Registered: October 29, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I have one in the master bath. I can only assume there were two lights above the double sinks and the previous owner made it into a single light


 
Posts: 5406 | Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA | Registered: February 27, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of 71 TRUCK
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Maybe the one next to the sink is for a disposal and the wire might be buried in the wall?




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As ratified by the States and authenticated by Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State



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Posts: 2553 | Location: Central Florida, south of the mouse | Registered: March 08, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
That's just the
Flomax talking
Picture of GaryBF
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Have you removed the cover plates to see if the switches are even wired?
 
Posts: 11875 | Location: St. Louis, Missouri | Registered: February 04, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of Orguss
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I have two in my home. One is in the bathroom and was supposedly going to be for an external light. One is next to the front door and I have absolutely no idea what it's for.



"I'm yet another resource-consuming kid in an overpopulated planet raised to an alarming extent by Hollywood and Madison Avenue, poised with my cynical and alienated peers to take over the world when you're old and weak!" - Calvin, "Calvin & Hobbes"
 
Posts: 18018 | Location: Sonoma County, CA | Registered: April 09, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
In the yahd, not too
fah from the cah
Picture of ryan81986
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House was built in the 80s.


quote:
Originally posted by GaryBF:
Have you removed the cover plates to see if the switches are even wired?


I just pulled one of them, the switch isn't connected, the hots and neutrals are tied/taped with wire nuts. Wherever the wire runs, it's sitting there hot. I suppose it could be for a switched outlet that is no longer switched.




 
Posts: 6337 | Location: Just outside of Boston | Registered: March 28, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of P250UA5
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Dishwasher shut off? We have one by our disposal switch.




The Enemy's gate is down.
 
Posts: 15153 | Location: Spring, TX | Registered: July 11, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
34" Scale 5-String
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We have one in our new (old) house that doesn’t seem to be connected to anything. Shortly after moving in I’d go over and flick it on and off a few times just for the heck of it. About a month later I got a letter from a woman in Germany saying “Cut it out!”


Bill R.
North Alabama
 
Posts: 4551 | Location: Madison, AL | Registered: December 06, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by bronicabill:
We have one in our new (old) house that doesn’t seem to be connected to anything. Shortly after moving in I’d go over and flick it on and off a few times just for the heck of it. About a month later I got a letter from a woman in Germany saying “Cut it out!”


Reminded me of a scene from married with children.
Al could not figure out what a light switch was for.
As he is flipping it on and off a light over the dog house is going on and off.




The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

As ratified by the States and authenticated by Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State



NRA Life Member
 
Posts: 2553 | Location: Central Florida, south of the mouse | Registered: March 08, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
H.O.F.I.S
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Sounds like a Steven Wright joke.



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Posts: 1513 | Location: Above water | Registered: September 16, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of Jimg1960
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quote:
Originally posted by Orguss:
I have two in my home. One is in the bathroom and was supposedly going to be for an external light. One is next to the front door and I have absolutely no idea what it's for.


I have 1 by my front door, it controls 2 wall plugs. Instead of putting overhead lighting they just wired the switches so you would have light when you came home...I put in ohl when we bought but that dam switch controls were are phone base is plugged in. My daughter resets my phone every time she brings her dogs over, the switch next to it is the porch light.
 
Posts: 301 | Location: Tennessee  | Registered: July 08, 2018Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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reminds me of a trick the framers played on an electrician once who was always grumpy.

being in the construction business now and then we would play tricks on each other, one day the framers were dealing with a grumpy electrician and after he was finished and before sheet rock went up a guy nailed a wire to the wall studs that went nowhere labeled it stereo power and let it stick out the wall, when the electrician came back to hook up the final plugs he spent a full day trying to make the stereo plug hot finally gave up and tore off some sheet rock. he never figured out who did it and no one confessed. Smile
 
Posts: 5574 | Registered: February 09, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of Gustofer
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quote:
Originally posted by XLT:
...one day the framers were dealing with a grumpy electrician and after he was finished and before sheet rock went up a guy nailed a wire to the wall studs that went nowhere labeled it stereo power and let it stick out the wall, when the electrician came back to hook up the final plugs he spent a full day trying to make the stereo plug hot finally gave up and tore off some sheet rock. he never figured out who did it and no one confessed. Smile

How much did the homeowner get charged for the materials and labor for that day? Wink

Yeah, I know, I'm kind of a stick-in-the-mud, but this is one of the reasons I hate practical jokes.


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Posts: 19975 | Location: Montana | Registered: November 01, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by Gustofer:
How much did the homeowner get charged for the materials and labor for that day? Wink
Yeah, I know, I'm kind of a stick-in-the-mud, but this is one of the reasons I hate practical jokes.


Nothing extra, that's not how it works.
 
Posts: 2520 | Location: High Sierra & Low Desert | Registered: February 03, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of tatortodd
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quote:
Phantom light switches
I'm original owner of a 2016 home and had some "phantom" light switches.

One in the kitchen is for those dangly lights that hang over the island. My kitchen has 6 recessed lights so it's plenty bright and I didn't want to spend the money. There are single gang wall boxes with plates over them in the ceiling.

I have a wall switch on the other side of the kitchen for the outlet with the garbage disposal in the island. Took me a while to figure out why the garbage disposal stopped working suddenly.

In other words, the OP should look for plates in the ceiling for future lights and switched outlets.



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Posts: 23098 | Location: Northern Suburbs of Houston | Registered: November 14, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Nullus Anxietas
Picture of ensigmatic
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The wall switch in one of the two bathrooms used to turn the vanity mirror light on/off, and the outlet next to the vanity. I thought that was pretty stupid.

When I removed the plate for the wall plug, to install a GFCI outlet (bathroom), I found a pair of wire-nutted wires in there, along with the wires connected to the outlet and that went elsewhere. "What the...?" Tested. Hot. Removed the outlet from the circuit it was on and put it on the constantly-hot pair.

Why blazes somebody did that I've no idea. There was no rhyme or reason to it.



"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe
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Posts: 26009 | Location: S.E. Michigan | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by Jimg1960:
quote:
Originally posted by Orguss:
I have two in my home. One is in the bathroom and was supposedly going to be for an external light. One is next to the front door and I have absolutely no idea what it's for.


I have 1 by my front door, it controls 2 wall plugs. Instead of putting overhead lighting they just wired the switches so you would have light when you came home...I put in ohl when we bought but that dam switch controls were are phone base is plugged in. My daughter resets my phone every time she brings her dogs over, the switch next to it is the porch light.



Simple Fix - delete the switch, disconnect the wires from the switch, wire nut them together, then install a switch blank in the cover plate. Just make sure you kill power to the circuit first


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Posts: 727 | Location: Raleigh, NC | Registered: May 15, 2015Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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No phantom switches in my house, but after reading this thread there will be when it comes time to sell. I've got plenty of old work boxes and switches laying around.


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Posts: 727 | Location: Raleigh, NC | Registered: May 15, 2015Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of ShouldBFishin
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quote:
Originally posted by P250UA5:
Dishwasher shut off? We have one by our disposal switch.

I've got 3 switches near the kitchen sink, 1 for the light over the sink, 1 for the disposal and 1 goes to the outlet for the dishwasher. I always wondered why the dishwasher would need a switch...
 
Posts: 1799 | Location: MN | Registered: March 29, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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